


Starlight on the Dunes

by punkrockgaia



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Dance Anxiety, M/M, New love, Prom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 05:00:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2953256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkrockgaia/pseuds/punkrockgaia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's prom time in Night Vale, and Earl Harlan is spending it alone in a tent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starlight on the Dunes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thetasigma0](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=thetasigma0).



> WTNVSS gift for ThetaSigma0, who wanted some Christmas CecEarl! 
> 
> (And hey, only a week late.)

Earl woke from a fitful slumber and tensed. _Something_ was out there. Something big. He grabbed the heaviest thing he could get his hands on, in this case his lantern, and lay in wait. 

The something got closer… closer… He could hear breathing just outside the tent flap. 

The creature loomed, a shadow silhouetted against the light of the moon. He gripped the lantern, ready to swing it as the flap opened, and…

“Oh! Cecil!” 

His best friend grinned and crawled into the tent. “Hey, Early.”

“What are you doing here? How was prom?”

Cecil groaned and flopped onto his back next to Earl. “Oh, Beams, it was _excruciating_. The music was horrible, no one else can dance — I mean, seriously, they just flop around and make out, no style whatsoever, and Nasr was in line ahead of me and got the last slice of pizza, by which I mean the last half of a pizza, Leanne was mad because apparently her dress clashed with my ensemble,” Cecil gestured to his suit, a violently hued turquoise, salmon and grey plaid affair. “Oh! Oh, and here’s the worst — there’s a slow song, right? And we’re dancing, and she starts making this face at me.” Cecil demonstrated, closing his eyes and pursing his lips. “And I’m all like, ‘are you okay?’ and she’s like ‘kiss me,’ and then I reminded her that I’m, like, **all** the gay and she got annoyed, and _maybe_ I said something to the effect that she was just mad because I’m prettier than her, and then she got really alienated and things got awkward, and,” he sighed, “and, yeah, she gave me the cold shoulder and wouldn’t talk to me and I got bored, so I left early and came out here. Oh but hey, I brought you this.” He handed a small object to Earl.

Earl took a break from trying to parse Cecil’s story and examined the item. It was a miniature-size bowie knife, in lime green and tangerine orange. Laser-etched on the side was an inscription. “Starlight on the Dunes: NVHS Senior Prom,” it read in a swoopy italic script. 

“Uh, thanks Cecil.”

Cecil shrugged. “It was the favor for the dance. I thought you’d have more use for it than I do.” He shifted a bit, trying to get more comfortable. “You should have gone. I’d have had more fun if you’d gone.” There was just a touch of resentment in his voice.

“Aw, Cee, c’mon. I couldn’t go to prom. Who would I have asked as my date?”

“I dunno,” Cecil said, looking away and fiddling with Earl’s emergency radio until the local pop music station was tuned in. This surprised Earl, as Cecil hardly ever listened to anything other than NVCR. He was even more surprised when Cecil rolled onto his side to face away. 

“Hey, something wrong, buddy?”

Cecil shrugged again. “Maybe.”

Earl rolled his eyes. “What’s the matter? Something’s obviously bugging you.”

Cecil didn’t answer for a long time, and Earl thought that perhaps he’d fallen asleep, when his voice cut through the silence in the tent. 

“Me.” 

“What?”

“Me. You could have asked me.”

“Cee, I —“ 

“Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I know you wouldn’t want anyone to think you were actually dating me.”

“That’s not —“

“But it didn’t even have to be a date, you know? We could have gone as friends, but now it’s over and you’d rather spend your time alone in a tent than spend an evening with me. I get it. I’m gonna leave now.”

“You don’t have to go!” Cecil’s mood swings were incomprehensible to Earl. What the heck?

“No, no, don’t worry about it, I’m gone.” Cecil sat up with a grunt and started to crawl out of the tent. 

“Cecil Palmer, sit your butt down right now.”

Cecil looked at Earl, startled. “Excuse me?”

“Sit down, you’re being dramatic.” Cecil sat down with a scowl. “Now listen, I love to go places with you. I would have gladly gone with you to the movies, or to the mall, or heck, you could have gone camping with me. I just didn’t want to go to prom. Not with you, and not with anyone.”

“Too romantic, I guess,” Cecil muttered.

“What? No! Ugh, it’s not that.”

“I understand. You don’t like me like that. That’s fine.”

“It’s not —“

“Never mind, forget I said anything. I’m gonna go.”

“It’s **dancing**!” Earl yelled, exasperated.

“What?” Cecil said, finally looking at Earl.

“Dancing. I can’t dance. I — I wanted to ask you, but I can’t dance and I knew you’d be disappointed, and you’d probably make fun of me.”

“Early,” Cecil sighed, patting Earl’s head. “Early, I’d never make fun of you. Everyone else, I’d make fun of, but not you.”

Earl shrugged, unplacated by Cecil’s reassurances. “So that’s why I didn’t want to go. Sorry.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because that’s just as bad as going and looking like a dork. Maybe worse.”

“You’re so silly,” Cecil said, ruffling Earl’s flaming locks. “But I don’t believe you.”  
 “What do you mean?”

“I don’t believe you can’t dance. You’re good at everything. You can climb trees, and cross rope-bridges, you can even swim! You have to be able to dance.”

Earl shook his head. “Nope. I, I can’t. I start out okay, and then I get all self-conscious and I can’t figure out what to do with my arms or where to look and then my feet feel too big and everyone is staring at me, and… nope.”

“That’s… that’s unbelievably adorable, Early!” Cecil threw his arms around Earl’s neck and hugged him. “But you _can_ dance. All you need is the right teacher. Like me. Come on, let’s do it.”

“Cecil, no, I mean… You don’t have to, not right now.”

“No, no, I mean, I want to. Look, I don’t think you’re ready for a foxtrot or a rhumba, so we’ll start out easy, with your standard-issue junior high shuffling in a circle slow-dance, okay?”

“Well, gee, uh, Cee, that would be fun and all, but what are we gonna dance to?” He gestured towards the radio. “Sounds like they’re just playing commercials right now.” As the words left his mouth, the radio changed to a song with a slow tempo. Earl groaned.

Cecil grinned, seemingly impervious to Earl’s discomfort. “The Radio Gods have smiled upon us! Come on, Early.”

Earl began to climb out of his sleeping bag, then stopped. “Uh, Cee. I’m in my underwear. Turn around so I can get changed.”

Cecil frowned. “Like I haven’t seen you in your underwear before.”

Earl blushed. “This is different, Cee. You’re all dressed up!”

“Well, I can fix that,” Cecil said, and quickly slipped off his suit jacket and unbuttoned his shirt, then went to work on his pants.

“You don’t have to —“

“You won’t feel silly if we’re both in our undershorts, now will you?”

“Well, I don’t know, but…”

“Too late now, it’s already done, I’m already undressed.” Cecil chuckled. “You can look, Earl. It’s just me.” 

Earl realized that he’d been covering his eyes and slowly lowered his hand. Cecil was sitting there in his boxer shorts and undershirt, just like Earl had seen him a hundred times. But this was different, this was…

Cecil got to his knees and held his hand out to Earl, smiling. “Come on, we need to go outside, where there’s room to stand up.”

Sighing and realizing he’d been beaten, Earl slipped out from his sleeping bag. 

“Nice shorts,” Cecil said, snickering. 

Earl looked down and groaned. He’d grabbed the first clean pair of underwear in his drawer, not expecting anyone would see them. They were a pair of jockey shorts with trefoils and knots on them, and they read “Be Prepared!” How stupid. 

“Cee, you said you wouldn’t make fun!” Earl protested.

“Firstly, I said I wouldn’t make fun of your dancing. Secondly, I am not ‘making fun,’ if anything, this is gentle ribbing. But point taken.” He grinned. “You do look really cute, though.”

Earl covered his face with his hands, but Cecil pulled on his arm, nudging him to get up as he pulled him out of the tent. He stood, reluctantly, facing Cecil, shivering a little in the chill of the desert air. “Sheesh, Cee, it’s cold out here.” 

“Hmm, maybe I can fix that,” Cecil said, reaching up to put his arms around Earl’s neck. 

Oh. That was… that was really nice. Cecil felt so warm, and he smelled so nice. He began to relax slightly. 

“Okay, so, Early, this is easy, okay. Just put your arms around my waist, stay loose and follow my lead.” He began to slowly sway his hips in time to the music, humming under his breath. Earl followed suit, hoping he didn’t look too stupid. “See, you’re doing fine, Early.”

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“No, you are, see? Your arms are around me, so you don’t have to worry about what to do with them.”

Earl sighed. “Yeah, but I still don’t know where to look.”

“You can look at me, if you want.”

Earl blinked and looked down at Cecil. 

Oh. 

Oh, he looked… He looked amazing. The starlight shone softly off of his face, and he was beautiful. He smiled up at Earl, and everything about him was perfect. Without thinking about it, he dipped his head and planted a gentle kiss on Cecil’s mouth. 

Cecil sighed and tightened his grip around Earl’s neck. “Mmmm, that was nice,” he breathed against Earl’s mouth.

“You liked it?” Earl asked, genuinely surprised. “I… I’ve wanted to do that, you know, for a while.”

“Well, then, maybe we should do it again?” Cecil asked. He pulled Earl closer, kissing him back. “Mmm, yes, definitely nice. Definitely worth doing again, yes.” He pressed his body against Earl’s. 

Earl felt his head spin. The desert was dark and beautiful under the Void. He could smell the remnants of his campfire, the musty canvas of his tent, and the utterly-intoxicating mix of sweat and cologne and something unfathomable that was Cecil. His back was chilly, but his front was warm, so warm. He held Cecil closer, still swaying as Void changed colors and the song faded into static. 

“I think we lost the signal,” he whispered regretfully to Cecil. 

“Hmm, then maybe we should go back into the tent,” Cecil said, waggling his eyebrows. He detached himself from Earl, then crawled back through the tent flap. Earl followed him, feeling mildly hypnotized. Cecil smiled at him, then crawled into the sleeping bag. “Join me?” he asked.

Earl nodded, mouth suddenly dry. He climbed in next to Cecil, who drew up the zipper. It was very close quarters, but he found he didn’t care. 

“Now,” Cecil purred, arms around Earl’s shoulders. “Where were we?” He kissed Earl on the mouth, deeper this time. 

Earl returned the kiss, lacing his fingers through Cecil’s hair. Cecil made an encouraging sound and wrapped his leg around Earl’s hips, and Earl could feel his body respond. He felt like he never had before, wild and needy and hot. 

And nervous.

Very, very nervous. 

He kept at it for a few moments more, trying to move past the growing feelings of unease, until his discomfort got too great to ignore. As gently as he could, he pushed Cecil away.

Cecil blinked at him, pupils blown wide in the dim light of the lantern. “Early? Is everything okay?”

Earl shook his head. “Yes! No, oh, gods, I don’t know.”

Cecil put his hand on Earl’s cheek. “No, really, what’s wrong? Tell me.”

Earl frowned. “It’s just…” The words came out in a rush. “I like you Cecil, like, like-like you and I like kissing you, and you’ll probably hate me but I don’t think I’m ready to do anything else just yet and I’m sorry I’m a big dork and please don’t stop being my friend I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry…”

Cecil stared at him for a moment, and Earl’s heart dropped. _Way to go, Harlan, you big stupid nerd baby,_ he thought to himself, bitterly. Then Cecil laughed.

“You like-like me? LIke, like-like?”

“Well, yeah,” Earl said, sheepishly. “But I don’t think I’m ready for more than kissing right now. And I’m sorry.”

“Oh, Early!” Cecil beamed at him. “I like-like you, too! And if you just want to kiss, that’s fine with me!” He wiggled around a bit. “Although, if you change your mind, that would be okay, too. So don’t hesitate to ask.”

“And if I don’t? Change my mind, I mean. For a long time?”

“Then that’ll be okay! You’re a really good kisser. I could kiss you for the next hundred years and not get tired of it.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I want to spend a very long time with you, Early Bird. I can wait.”

“Oh, Cecil!” Earl hugged him tightly.

“One thing, though.”

“What’s that?”

“I think I lied.”

“About what?”

“I think I don’t like-like you. I think maybe I love you.”

“I… I love you too, Cee.”

Cecil sighed with happiness. “Then that’s all I need.” He yawned. “Hey, wanna get some sleep? I’m beat.”

Earl nodded. “Yeah, me too. Roll over, willya? I don’t know if I can sleep with you breathing in my face.”

Cecil gasped in mock outrage. “Are you saying something about my breath, Junior Scoutmaster Harlan?”

“Of course not, Intern Palmer. Your breath is like a baby spiderwolf’s.” Cecil blinked at him, and Earl chuckled. “That’s a good thing, by the way. I love how baby spiderwolves smell. But you’re stealing my oxygen.”

“Ah, then I’ll turn around. I want you to keep breathing.” Cecil rolled over and snuggled sleepily into Earl. The tent was quiet again, and the radio changed back from static to a tender love ballad. Earl kissed the back of Cecil’s head.

“Love you, Cee.”

“Love you too, Early Bird.” 

Under the ever-shifting void, two boys fell asleep holding hands, and outside the starlight glistened over the dunes, gilding the world with magic.


End file.
